I'm interested in starting my own little mini-aquarium here in my apartment. My local Wal-Mart has a fish section, and has a 10-gal tank for $15. And looking at their selection of fish, I thought it would be neat to start one up. I know there has to be a perfect pH and water hardness, temp, etc. From an absolute know-nothing about fish standpoint, what can you tell me to go from nothing to having a perfect little setup? I live in the city, so I have that chlorine/flourine/softer mix if that matters any.

I wrote down the names of some pretty neat looking ones. Pictus Catfish, Blue Gourami, and the Hi-Fin Black Tetra. And of course, Plecostomus. Are these good starters? Thanks all!

 

I currently am running a 100 gallon freshwater tank.

Small tanks are harder to keep up, especially for a noob. I learned the hard way, and so did some fish. If you're going with a community tank choose fish that work well together. There's plenty of info on the web to look at. I recommend learning as much as you can before diving into an aquarium.

 

exactly. when the thought popped into my head i almost grabbed a tank and some fish I cant do something that large. I guess at the most is 30-gal. I'm in a small apartment and want to keep it on my dresser. are there any sites just for fish/home aquariums?

 

A 30 is better than a 10. I did well with them for years before I went to a 55. Ended up going up to the 100.

http://www.firsttankguide.net/steps.php

 

I agree, smaller tanks can be a pain. Im running a 150 gallon tank and its a hassle sometimes also. I agree with stealth- get fish that work well together. Also the more light you have shinning on your tank, the more algae your going to get. Read as much info. as you can on the web, maybe go into a local fish store and talk to some of the employees.

 

^^Another good tip, about going to the local fish store.

To add, try to find a smaller mom and pop fish store, not the Petsmart or Petco. Not that they don't know anything at PM or PC, but the smaller store tends to have better information and selection.

My 100 gallon tank has been set up for such a long time and basically runs itself, I just keep the filters clean and monitor the water level, and feed the fish.

Also you will tend to overfeed your fish when you start, a common mistake. It is best to have some bottom feeders in there to catch all the uneaten food and that will help keep things cleaner, which will make things easier on you.

Another thing is tropical fish prices are going to go up soon. The hard freezes they've had in Florida recently have devastated the tropical fish farms there.

 

If you want to play it safe, here's my combo... for fresh water...

30 gallon tank
Regent/Aquatech 30/60 Dual filter pump
Regent Submersible Aquarium Heater
5 bags of 5 lb sand of your choice
Flourescent hood with UV plant & aquarium bulb
Tetra Easy Balance
Tetra Aqua Safe
Bottom sinking thermometer
Stick on thermometer or digital

Plants:
Be wary... I've had good/bad experiences with live plants... Especially with snails and even using snail-away... Go with fake plastic plants. Plus, it can carry sickness/disease to your fish from the pet store if you buy real plants.

Water temp: ~70F -/+ 2F

Fish: 2 Large Comets, 1 Fantail, and a Synodontis OcelliIfer catfish...

Food: Goldfish flakes, Tetra fish treats, Sun-dried Gammarus, and goldfish pellets... the catfish don't care what's in there, it's eats anything.

Cleaning: Every 3-4 months... depending on algae growth and the amount of feces in sand. Basically just keep an eye on it. As long as you keep up on changing the filters, and don't have tank in a sunny location, you'd be fine.

Fish shock: When building an aquarium for the first time, have it run 24 hours before running out to buy fish. This way the carbon in the filtering process neutralizes and filters the water well. Once you've got it established, and you clean it, wait 4-6 hours before letting fish back in tank.

Make absolutely sure that the temperature is correct for the fish!!!

 

thanks Manual. theres a specialty fish store down the road- im about to go check it out.

 

I started my first 10 gallon tank when I was a kid in the mid 70's! I actually had pretty good success with them... Then, I actually got a second 10 gallon tank! I was paying for all the fish, accessories and did all the maintenance myself as well... I had one tank as a 'tropical' tank with only about 5 fish total...

That's the key with the smaller tanks.. You have to keep the number of fish size and number down. I think I had some Bala's and an Angle fish and a Tiger or two... Yes, I know those are pretty aggressive fish, but they did okay! The other tank had simple Gold Fish in them and that was pretty easy too. Remember, back in those days, there was not all the fancy filters and such... I had a simple charcoal/media air pump driven filter and relied on the biological filter to do the rest!

That's the main thing is establishing and maintaining the Bio filter... This is in the gravel and done naturally.. It takes about 2-3 weeks to establish from a brand new setup, so get yourself some sacrificial fish to start out with! Yes, that sounds bad and you are essentially setting those fish up for sure death, but that's what it takes to establish a tank.. So, don't go out and buy those $10 fish on the first day!

You can get that stuff that helps establish a tank faster, but nothing works better than Nature!

I agree that larger tanks are actually easier to maintain.. I went to a 20 gallon tank eventually and then we moved and I didn't pick up the Aquarium bug again until about 15 years ago. Since then, I've had the same 55 gallon tank and have had all sorts of fish in the tank.. Right now, I'm back with the basic Gold Fish, as I don't want to mess with it at all! I don't have to do much, except feed the fish and clean the filter about once a month... I just buy the .25 feeders and they actually grow to about 3"!

Good luck with it! It's great and a really fun hobby, and you will kill some fish, but that's all part of the learning process!!

Mitch

 

haha, i like that mitch- sacraficial fish

I went out and dropped a c-note today:



20-gal

has a starter kit for new water and a intro booklet with a filter and some food. my parents have a heater and air pump sitting in a closet so that saved me another $50. I got 15-lbs of rocks, and a digital thermometer. I still need some ornaments/fake plants

 

How do you reduce the temperature of the water? Its at 83*F. I need to drop it to 76*F. I've already added the balancer to eliminate phosphate levels, add pH stabilizers, and also some vitamins. And then 10mL of AquaSafe to make my city water safe for fish (eliminates chlorine and fluorine levels). I'm about to go back to the fish store to get a background and a few fake plants. Here are a few fish I've been looking at once my trial fish give me a thumbs up or down:



Blue Gourami



Pictus Catfish



Hypostomus Plecostomus



Black Tetra

 

That pleco gets HUGE. I had a little bity pleco like that that grew up to 13" long. They can grow up to 18" long. Something to think about. Plus they eat algae, which you have none of. My 100 has large rocks in it and I never have to feed the pleco, plenty of algae for him to feed on.

 

yeah the fish store out here has small pleco for $6. i might get one later on, but they defiantly keep the algae down. My parents had one for the longest time and had a beautiful 100-gallon, but once it died that tank got really dirty really quick.

 

You could put the heater on a timer and monitor water temps or get a better heater that you can set. I have a nice one in my turtle aquarium like the latter.

 

What's your heater set to? That's all that controls the temp, other then the inside temp of the house...

I'd unplug the heater and let the water get to room temp and then adjust the heater accordingly.

Yeah, those algae eaters get big fast and need a lot to eat or they die!

Believe it or not, I feed my Gold Fish and my 6" long Algae eater a small Zucchini every other week... I cut up the Zuc and place it in some of the rocks I have with holes in them and in about 3 days, it's all gone! I still have zero algae, so he takes care of that as well! I also do this when I go away for long weekends where I can't feed the fish every day and they do fine for up to 5 days. (there is zero trace of the Zuc too!).

I think those Gourami's are VERY aggressive fish... I had some when I first started with the 55 gallon tank and they nipped at anything else that was in the tank. I had the best luck with Bala's, Angles, Tigers and Neons all living together in harmony..

I simply bought the cheapest tropical fish the store had for my "sacrificial" fish. For a 20 gallon tank, I'd get about 6 of them and see what happens..

If you do any water tests initially, you will find that the ammonia and nitrite levels will be off the charts... That's NORMAL while your tank is establishing.. DON'T try to stabilize it with all the chemicals out there that claim to do this!! Until your tank stabilizes on it's own, you won't be able to fix it! All you will do is kill your fish sooner and your Bio filter will never establish..

I "micro managed" my 55 gallon tank when I first got it because I thought I knew better and had the $$ to buy all the fancy chemicals.... Well, all I ended up with was dead fish and no established tank... Finally, the guy at the local tropical fish store said was to "just leave it alone and let nature take it's course". I got some hearty fish like the Bala and even thou he was the 'sacrificial' fish, he ended up living for over 5 years! The tank finally established after about 2 weeks and me NOT adding any chemicals and then the water tests all showed NORMAL readings!

You need to do water changes during the "establishing" times too.. Suck out about 1/3 of the water about once a week until the water tests pan out...

Another tip is to NOT vacuum the tank during the "establishing" times as well... You actually want the poo and the uneaten food to build up in the gravel as that's what creates the Bio Filter. Once it's established, then you do want to vacuum it up from time to time, but leave enough there to maintain it! That was the other mistake I made initially... I was over cleaning the tank!

To date, I haven't done a water test in well over a year... All my 'feeders' do fine and just for giggles, I just did a test to prove my point and all measures were totally normal.. (PH, Nitrite, Chlorine, Ammonia)

I do a partial water change about once a month now.. Usually when the water level gets about 2-3" below the top. I'll do a quick vacuum job about every other month and then when I fill the tank back up, put in the water conditioner and I also add a little bit of aquarium salt in the mix as well.. (another suggested item from a local fish store..)

For my water changes, I use one of those setups that attaches to a facet and you turn on the water and it 'sucks' the water out and then you flip 'switch' and then it fills it.. I do adjust the water when filling with some HOT water so it's not ALL cold water going in...

Lots of little tricks out there to care for these things and most of it is just learned over time!

Have fun!

Mitch